The design and construction of nuclear installations require a combination of certain highly specialized engineering properties in critical metal components. The alloys must have a high degree of mechanical, chemical and physical properties, including favorable nuclear characteristics, such as a short half life, resistance to radiation damage and the like.
Many alloys are available in the art that provide a number of these properties and characteristics. However, none is known to provide an optimum combination for use as a nuclear grade steel. U.S. Pat. No. 1,790,177, for example, discloses certain steel alloys suggested for a large variety of uses.
These iron-base alloys contain chromium, nickel, silicon and carbon as the required alloying elements, as shown in Table 1. The patented alloys do not have an optimum combination of properties for use as components in critical nuclear installations.